Building materials elevator



BUILDING MATERIALS ELEVATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 5, 1958 0 z a a m m M W w d. M 3 E 7 a -u A .7 ll IIIIIIII .6 m 1 m J J g-"I NO a fi H. 4 T 7 f v 3 Iv u l u 2 n W W 2 LL #1: v 2 .b 7 8 9 2 7 6 IE 3 0 a a h M Fig.

Feb. 9, 1960 o. E. MOYER BUILDING MATERIALS ELEVATOR Filed Sept. 5. 1958 4 Sheets-$heet 2 s w m in L NE 0 WM 2 E k. R V A x afm B D fi 3 Hv u 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 u 7 g\ Y W w f Q A I Q L O. E. MOYER BUILDING MATERIALS ELEVATOR Feb. 9, 1960 Filed Sept. 5, 195a United States Patent BUILDING MATERIALS ELEVATOR Oscar E. Meyer, Zelienople, Pa., assignor to Universal Manufacturing Corporation, Zelienople, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 5, 1958, Serial No. 759,247

6 Claims. (Cl. 214-623) This invention relates to elevators, and more particularly to those used for lifting cement that is to be poured in constructing a building.

It is common practice in constructing a building to lift cement to the desired floor level by means of a bucket in an elevator tower. The bucket is usually dumped into a projecting hopper attached to the front or building side of the tower, and from the hopper the cement is carried away in wheelbarrows or the like. Every time another floor is to be poured, the hopper must be disconnected from the tower, raised to the new level and then reattached to the tower. This requires considerable labor and time, because the hopper must be hoisted up the outside of the tower.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide elevating apparatus, in which the elevator itself is used for raising and lowering the hopper, and in which the hopper is moved up and down inside of the tower.

In accordance with this invention, hopper means is disposed in. front of an opening in the front of an elevator tower and is detachably connected with the tower for support. Projecting from the hopper means back into the tower is suspension means. An elevator disposed inside the tower includes a bucket for carrying building material to the hopper means. Projecting from the elevator is supporting means adapted to extend beneath the suspension means secured to the hopper means. When the elevator is raised to move the supporting means up into engagement with the suspension means, the hopper will be supported thereby after it has been detached from the tower. Consequently, the hopper means will swing down and back through the opening into the tower so that it can be raised or lowered therein to another location by means of the elevator.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front view of an elevating tower showing the bucket and hopper connected;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof with parts of the tower broken away;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken approximately on the line IIl-III of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are diagrammatic side views of an elevator showing the bucket and hopper in several different positions.

Referring to the first three figures of the drawings, a building materials elevator tower is constructed in the usual manner from tubular corner legs 1 connected by horizontal braces 2, and also by diagonal braces that are not shown forthe sake of clearness. Attached to the inner side of the horizontal braces at opposite sides of the tower are vertical guides 3 for an elevator. Part of the elevator may be formed from an inverted U-shape frame 4 that is supported by a cable 5, which extends up through the tower and then down over the usual sheaves to a winch on the ground (not shown). The sides of the frame are provided with parallel angle bars 6 that straddle the guides 3. Suspended from the sides of the frame are 2,924,348 Patented Feb. 9, 1960 inclined tension bars 7 that support at their lower ends a horizontal U-shape frame 8, the open side of which faces forward. This frame supports a large horizontal tube 9, the ends of which engage the opposite sides of the vertical frame. A dump bucket 10 is supported by the tube, and preferably is mounted so that it can be tilted forward. The center of gravity of the bucket is such that it tends to tilt backward, but it is normally held in a horizontal position by cables 11 extending from its rear corners up to the top of the elevator.

Outside of the tower and in front of it is hopper means, consisting of a hopper 13 rigidly supported by a frame extending across the front of the tower. This frame has a horizontal rectangular portion 14 that surrounds the top of the hopper, a central vertical 'U-shape portion 15 that extends under the hopper, and vertical end portions 16. The front ends of the end portions are pivoted to central portion 15 and extend backward and outward to the front legs of the tower. They are held in this position by pivoted horizontal arms 17 detachably bolted to them. The rear end of each end of the frame has two hinged clamps 18 secured to it. These are clamped around the tower leg to support the frame. The projecting hopper also is supported by cables 19, which are secured to its forward portion and which extend up to clamps 20 fastened to the tower legs some distance above the frame clamps.

Projecting from the back of the hopper frame is suspension means, preferably in the form of two laterally spaced bifurcated brackets 22 that are inclined upward and backward into the tower from opposite sides of the horizontal portion 14 of the frame. The rear end of each bracket contains a horizontal pin 23 that projects therefrom towards the other bracket. The projecting ends of the pins support rollers 24 that will be engaged by inclined plates 25 on the opposite sides of the bucket when the bucket is raised past the hopper. This will cause the bucket to tilt forward and dump its contents into the hopper, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. When the bucket is lowered again, curved plates 26 above the inclined plates will strike the top of the rollers and compel the bucket to swing back to its horizontal position.

The pins 23 also serve another purpose, which is to support the hopper from the elevator while the hopper is being moved from one location to another. This is accomplished by slidably mounting a horizontal shaft 27 in the front end of each tubular side of horizontal frame 8 of the elevator, so that the shaft can be pulled out beneath the adjacent pin. The outer end portion of the shaft is provided on top with spaced vertical plates 28 that form a notch between them for receiving the pin. After the pin is in the notch, it is locked in by means of a link 29 pivoted to one plate and detachably connected to the other.

In the operation of this apparatus, assume that the hopper projects from the front of the tower at any given level, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and that the elevator is at the bottom of the tower. The bucket is filled with concrete and then is pulled up through the tower. As the bucket passes the hopper, inclined plates 25 engage rollers 24 and stop the front end of the bucket as the rest of it is carried upward. This compels the bucket to tilt forward into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, whereby the contents of the bucket are dumped into the hopper. When the elevator is lowered, the curved plates 26 on the bucket engage the rollers and again stop its front end while the rest of it descends, whereby the bucket is tilted back to horizontal position and continues on down to the bottom of the tower.

When it is desired to raise the hopper to another level, the elevator is raised up past the hopper in the way just described. However, after the bucket is past the hop per, it is tilted back manually to a horizontal position and then the elevator is lowered until its horizontal frame 8 is slightly below the level of bracket pins 23. Shafts 27 then are pulled forward-from the frame to a position 18 from the front legs of the tower, so that the end portions 16 of the hopper frame can be swung in toward the hopper to permit the hopper to swing back through the open front of the tower when the elevator raises brackets 22. The elevator is raised far enough to permit the hopper and its frame to hang freely, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, with slack in cables 19. The cable clamps 20 then can be removed from the tower legs so that the hopper will be connectedonly to the elevator. Since the center of gravity may be such that the hopper will not swing completely back into the tower, it can be swung further back in order to clear the front side of the tower by a chain 31 and manually operated winch 32 (Fig. 6) connected to the bottom of the elevator and to the bottom of the hopper. When the hopper has been swung back into the tower in this manner, it appears as shown in full lines in Fig. 6.

The elevator then can be raised to lift the hopper to the desired level. Actually, the hopper first is raised above that level a short distance so that the cable clamps 20 can be fastened to the tower legs in the correct position. Then the elevator is lowered slowly, which allows cables 19 to tighten and swing the hopper forward out of the tower as links 29 push down on pins 23. As soon as the top of the hopper is horizontal, the end portions 16 of the hopper frame are swung outward so that their clamps 18 can be attached to the front legs of the tower.

After that, links '29 can be released so that the elevator can be lowered slightly to allow shafts 27 to be pushed back into frame 8. However, the bucket cannot be lowered very much from this position, because the bottoms of its inclined plates 25 would strike rollers 24 and stop the elevator. Therefore, the elevator is first raised far enough to permit the bucket to be tilted forward manual- .ly. It is now possible to lower the elevator all the way, during which bucket plates 26 will strike the rollers and swing the bucket back to horizontal position as it passes the rollers. The elevator and bucket then can be operated in the customary manner to carry loads of cement to the hopper. After all work has been completed, the elevator can remove the hopper from the front of the tower again and lower it to the ground for removal. Since all of the lifting and lowering of the hopper is done by the elevator, a great deal of manual effort and time are saved. Also, it is a safer operation.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

l. Elevating apparatus for building materials, comprising a tower having an opening in its front, hopper means in front of said opening and detachably connected with the tower for support, suspension means projecting from the hopper means back into the tower, an elevator in the tower including a bucket for carrying building material to the hopper means, supporting means projecting from the elevator beneath said suspension means, and means for raising the elevator in the tower to move said supporting means up into engagement with said suspension means to support the hopper means when it is detached from the tower, whereby the hopper means will swing down and back through said opening into the tower so that the hopper means can be raised or lowered therein to another location by means of the elevator.

2. A building materials elevator according to claim 1, including means attached to said elevator for swinging said hopper means upward in the tower to assure complete withdrawal of the hopper means from said tower opening.

3. Elevating apparatus for building materials, comprising a tower having an opening in its front, hopper means in front of said opening and detachably connected with the tower for support, suspension means projecting from the hopper means back into the tower, an elevator in the tower including a bucket for carrying building material to the hopper means, supporting means projecting from the elevator beneath said suspension means, and means for raising the elevator in the tower to move said supporting means up into engagement with said suspension means to support the hopper means when it is detached from the tower, whereby the hopper means will swing down and back through said opening into the tower so that the hopper means can be raised or lowered therein to another location by means of the elevator, said supporting means being retractable. to permit the elevator to pass the hopper means while supported by the tower.

4. Elevating apparatus for building materials, comprising a tower having an opening in its front, a frame in front of said opening and detachably connected with the tower for support, a hopper rigidly supported by the frame, suspension means projecting from said frame back into the tower, an elevator in the tower including a bucket for carrying building material to the hopper, supporting means projecting from the elevator beneath said suspension means, and means for raising the elevator in the tower to move said supporting means up into engagement with said suspension means to support the frame when it is detached from the tower, whereby the frame and hopper will swing down and back through said opening into the tower so that they can be raised or lowered therein to another location by means of the elevator.

5. A building materials elevator according to claim 4, in which said frame has rearwardly flaring pivoted end portions, and means detachably connecting the rear ends of said end portions to the tower, said end portions being swingable toward each other when disconnected from the tower to make the frame narrower than said tower opening.

6. Elevating apparatus for building materials, comprising a tower having an opening in its front, hopper means in front of said opening, means detachably connecting the back of the hopper means to the tower, cables secured to the forward portion of the hopper means and detachably connected to the tower above said first means, suspension means projecting from the hopper means back into the tower, an elevator in the tower including a. bucket for carrying building material to the hopper means, supporting means projecting from the elevator beneath said suspension means, and means for raising the elevator in the tower to move said supporting meansup into engagement with said suspension means to support the hopper means when said first means are disconnected, whereby as the elevator is raised the hopper means will swing down and back through said opening into the tower until supported entirely by the elevator, said cables then being detachable from the tower to permit the elevator to raise or lower the hopper means in the tower to a new location.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,259,035 Miller Mar. 12, 1918 

